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Library Bookwatch

Volume 16, Number 12 December 2021 Home | LBW Index

Table of Contents

Reviewer's Choice Social Issues Shelf Education Shelf
Parenting Shelf Environmental Studies Shelf Pets/Wildlife Shelf
Cookbook Shelf Business Shelf Military Shelf
General Fiction Shelf Literary Fiction Shelf Romantic Fiction Shelf
Western Fiction Shelf Mystery/Suspense Shelf Fantasy/SciFi Shelf
Technology Shelf Architecture Shelf Biography Shelf
Psychology Shelf Graphic Novel Shelf Audiobook Shelf
Library CD Shelf Library DVD Shelf Art Shelf
Philosophy Shelf Interior Design Shelf Fashion Shelf
Photography Shelf World History Shelf Literary Studies Shelf


Reviewer's Choice


Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World
Michael J. Benton, author
Bob Nichols, illustrator
Thames & Hudson, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110-0017
www.thamesandhudsonusa.com
9781408843956, $35.00, HC, 320pp

https://www.amazon.com/Dinosaurs-New-Visions-Lost-World/dp/0500052190

Synopsis: What dinosaurs looked like has been an evolving process from their first discovery down to the present day. In the profusely and beautifully illustrated pages of "Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World", world-leading paleontologist Michael J. Benton brings us a new visual guide to the world of the dinosaurs, showing how rapid advances in technology and amazing new fossil finds have changed the way we see these extinct beasts forever.

Stunning, brand-new illustrations by paleoartist Bob Nicholls display the latest and most exciting scientific discoveries in vibrant color. From Sinosauropteryx, the first dinosaur to have its color patterns identified (a ginger-and-white striped tail and a "bandit mask") by Benton's team at the University of Bristol to recent research on the surprising mixed feathers and scales of Kulindadromeus, "Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World" is one of the first books to include cutting-edge scientific research in paleontology.

Each individual chapter focuses on a particular extinct species, featuring a specially commissioned illustration by Bob Nicholls that brings to life the latest scientific breakthroughs, with accompanying text exploring how paleontologists have determined new details, such as the patterns on skin and the colors of feathers of animals that lived millions of years ago. This visual compendium surprises and challenges everything you thought you knew about what dinosaurs looked like and how they lived.

Critique: Featuring 100 full color illustrations in support of an informed and informative commentary, "Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World" is an inherently fascinating, thoughtful and thought-provoking read from cover to cover. While especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Paleontology collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of all dinosaur enthusiasts that "Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $19.99).

Editorial Note: Michael J. Benton is a professor of vertebrate paleontology and head of the world-leading Palaeobiology Research Group at the University of Bristol. He has written more than fifty books, including "Dinosaurs Rediscovered" and "When Life Nearly Died".


The Social Issues Shelf

The PhD Parenthood Trap
Kerry F. Crawford, author
Leah C. Windsor, author
Georgetown University Press
3240 Prospect Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007
www.press.georgetown.edu
9781647120665, $29.99, HC, 272pp

https://www.amazon.com/PhD-Parenthood-Trap-Between-Academia/dp/1647120667

Synopsis: Academia today has a big problem. For many parents (especially mothers) the idea of "work-life balance" is a work-life myth. Parents and caregivers work harder than ever to grow and thrive in their careers while juggling the additional responsibilities that accompany parenthood. Sudden disruptions and daily constraints such as breastfeeding, sick days that keep children home from school, and the sleep deprivation that plagues the early years of parenting, and the current Covid pandemic with its long-distance learning for homebound children, all threaten to derail careers. Some experience bias and harassment related to pregnancy or parental leave. The result is an academic Chutes and Ladders, where career advancement is nearly impossible for parents who lack access to formal or informal support systems.

In "The PhD Parenthood Trap: Caught Between Work and Family in Academia" and with the assistance of twenty-two expert and experienced contributors, co-authors Kerry F. Crawford and Leah C. Windsor reveal the realities of raising kids, on or off the tenure track, and suggest reforms to help support parents throughout their careers. Insights from their original survey data and poignant vignettes from scholars across disciplines make it clear that universities lack understanding, uniform policies, and flexibility for family formation, hurting the career development of parent-scholars.

Each chapter comprising "The PhD Parenthood Trap: Caught Between Work and Family in Academia" includes recommendations for best practices and policy changes that will help make academia an exemplar of progressive family-leave policies. Topics covered include pregnancy, adoption, miscarriage and infant loss, postpartum depression, family leave, breastfeeding, daily parenting challenges, the tenure clock, and more. "The PhD Parenthood Trap: Caught Between Work and Family in Academia" then concludes with advice to new or soon-to-be parents to help them better navigate parenthood in academia.

Critique: Impressively informative, exceptionally well organized and presented, "The PhD Parenthood Trap: Caught Between Work and Family in Academia" is especially recommended reading for scholars, academic mentors, and university administrators who would benefit from empirical evidence and suggested steps to break down personal and structural barriers between parenthood and scholarly careers. While an essential addition to community, college, and university library Education Administration & Parenting collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The PhD Parenthood Trap: Caught Between Work and Family in Academia" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $22.49).

Editorial Note #1: Kerry F. Crawford is an associate professor of political science at James Madison University. She is the author of Wartime Sexual Violence (Georgetown University Press, 2017) and Human Security: Theory and Action. She is also the mother of three young children.

Editorial Note #2: Leah C. Windsor is a research associate professor in the Institute for Intelligent Systems at the University of Memphis. She directs the Languages Across Cultures lab and is the author of numerous studies at the intersection of linguistics and political science. She is also the mother of two young children.


The Education Shelf

School, Not Jail
Peter Williamson and Deborah Appleman, editors
Teachers College Press
https://www.tcpress.com
9780807765487, $32.95 pbk / $18.12 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/School-Not-Jail-Educators-Incarceration/dp/0807765481

Synopsis: This important volume examines how and why increasing numbers of students, disproportionately youth of color, are being taken from our schools and put into our prisons. Williamson and Appleman, along with a collection of scholars, teacher educators, K - 12 teachers, an administrator, and an incarcerated student, offer their perspectives on how schooling can be restructured to disrupt this flow and dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. They present clearly articulated strategies on curriculum, pedagogy, and disciplinary practices that can help redirect our collective efforts away from carceral practices.

By considering chapters from prison educators and an essay by a currently incarcerated student (the end of the pipeline), readers will plainly see the disciplinary and curricular issues that need to be addressed in our schools. The text includes examples of meaningful ways to engage students that could be incorporated into a variety of classrooms, from social studies to science to English language arts.

School, Not Jail features:

Instructive cautionary tales with specific pedagogical and policy suggestions.

Alternatives to discipline in schools, such as restorative justice and positive behavioral support.

Insights to help educators consider the trajectory of their students, as well as suggestions for making the curriculum both relevant and sustaining.

Ways in which an understanding of the mechanisms of the school-to-prison pipeline can be woven into teacher preparation.

Critique: School, Not Jail: How Educators Can Disrupt School Pushout and Mass Incarceration is a curated anthology of essays by expert scholars examining a horrifying failure of American schools - how increasing number of students, especially students of color, are taken out of schools and end up in prisons. This can happen directly, when students are arrested in schools, or indirectly, when students are suspended or expelled for even the most minor violations of dress code or "zero tolerance" policies. Students who are expelled or do not complete a high school degree are severely disadvantaged in career prospects, and many times more likely to become incarcerated. Individual writings examining this distressing problem and ways to counteract it include "Transformative Justice in Education: A Necessary Paradigm Shift in the United States", "Teacher Preparation and Disrupting School Pushout and Mass Incarceration", "Still I Rise: Student Voices in Juvenile Hall", and much more. School, Not Jail directly addresses a systemic social ill that literally destroys lives, and is worthy of the highest recommendation for public, college, and professional library Education collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that School, Not Jail is also available in a Kindle edition ($18.12).

Editorial Note: Peter Williamson is an associate professor at Stanford University and faculty director of the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) for secondary teachers. Deborah Appleman is the Hollis L. Caswell Professor of educational studies at Carleton College and author of Critical Encounters in Secondary English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents, Third Edition.

Empowering Underrepresented Gifted Students
Joy Lawson Davis, editor
Deb Douglas, editor
Free Spirit Publishing
6325 Sandburg Road, Suite 100, Minneapolis, MN 55427-3674
www.freespirit.com
9781631984884, $42.99, PB, 188pp

https://www.amazon.com/Empowering-Underrepresented-Gifted-Students-ProfessionalTM/dp/1631984888

Synopsis: In gifted education, an important and contentious issue that has yet to be sufficiently addressed is the systemic underrepresentation of gifted students who have been discriminated against in school-based gifted and advanced learner programs because of their race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or other discriminatory cultural realities. "Empowering Underrepresented Gifted Students: Perspectives from the Field" gives a voice to those students and brings their stories into focus.

With chapters written by student and expert scholars who specialize in addressing the structural inequity and educational inequality in gifted and advanced learner programs, "Empowering Underrepresented Gifted Students" recommends practices and strategies for helping underserved high-potential students claim their right to an education that addresses their unique needs. Each chapter has key takeaways and discussion questions, providing a built-in book study guide to prepare educators to engage students in conversation and to help develop their self-advocacy skills.

In the pages, collaborative co-editors and educators Dr. Joy Lawson Davis and Deb Douglas have brought together the voices of experts and students to help educators move closer to ensuring equity, access, and excellence in gifted education. By arming historically marginalized gifted students with self-advocacy strategies, these remarkable students will be better enabled to fulfill their dreams.

Critique: Exceptionally well organized, impressively informative, thoughtful and thought- provoking, "Empowering Underrepresented Gifted Students: Perspectives from the Field" is an extraordinary, timely, and unreservedly recommended addition to school district, college, and university library Gifted Students Education collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. "Empowering Underrepresented Gifted Students: Perspectives from the Field" is also an ideal selection as a textbook for school district teacher in-service training programs and a 'must' for all classroom teachers of gifted students seeking to create and maintain Gifted Education curriculums.

Teaching International Relations
James M. Scott, Ralph G. Carter, Brandy Jolliff Scott, Jeffrey S. Lantis, editors
Edward Elgar Publishing
9 Dewey Court, Northampton, MA 01060-3815
www.e-elgar.com
9781839107641, $145.00, HC, 272pp

https://www.amazon.com/Teaching-International-Relations-Elgar-Guides/dp/1839107642

Synopsis: Collaboratively compiled and edited by the team of James M. Scott (Herman Brown Chair and Professor of Political Science, Texas Christian University), Ralph G. Carter (Piper Professor of Political Science, Texas Christian University), Brandy Jolliff Scott (Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Texas Christian University), and Jeffrey S. Lantis (Professor of Political Science, College of Wooster), "Teaching International Relations" comprehensive guide captures important trends in international relations (IR) pedagogy, paying particular attention to innovations in active learning and student engagement for the contemporary International Relations (IR) classroom.

"Teaching International Relations" is organized into three parts: IR course structures and goals; techniques and approaches to the classroom; and assessment and effectiveness. It is up-to-date with teaching practices highlighted by leading journals and conferences sponsored by the International Studies Association (ISA) and the American Political Science Association (APSA).

Collectively, the chapters contribute to continuing dialogues on pedagogy in the field and serve as a critical resource for faculty in IR, political science, and social science.

Critique: Comprised of seventeen erudite and informative articles by experts in their respective fields, "Teaching International Relations" is enhanced for academia with the inclusion of figures, tables, a 33 page listing of References, and a six page Index. Exceptionally well organized and presented, "Teaching International Relations" is a part of the Elgar Guides To Teaching series and a highly recommended addition to professional, college, and university library Contemporary Education & International Relations collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.


The Parenting Shelf

Launching into Young Adulthood with ADHD ... Ready or Not!
Chris A. Zeigler Dendy, author
Ruth Hughes, author
Woodbine House
6510 Bells Mill Road, Bethesda, MD 20817
www.woodbinehouse.com
9781606132975, $24.95, PB, 246pp

https://www.amazon.com/Launching-into-Young-Adulthood-Ready/dp/1606132970

Synopsis: The quantum leap from high school into young adulthood and the work world can be especially challenging for teens with ADHD. Scientific evidence indicates that ADHD can result in up to a three- to five-year delay in brain maturation and executive functioning skills, which means that many young people with ADHD may not be developmentally ready to meet the demands of this transition. Without continued support, young people can become overwhelmed and risk failure.

Authors Chris Dendy and Ruth Hughes are ADHD experts and parents of adult sons who are now successfully established in their careers. With the publication of "Launching into Young Adulthood with ADHD ... Ready or Not!" they offer parents guidance and strategies to help their preteens and teens develop the key life skills necessary for the adult world and identify potential vocational interests and career paths before graduation.

An important theme is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to life planning for young people with ADHD. The authors therefore caution against assuming attending a four-year college right after high school (or at all) is the best path to a successful, fulfilling adulthood. Instead, they advocate for nurturing natural talents, exploring careers that "work" with ADHD (sales, business owner, chef), using available services (transition planning, vocational testing and counseling), trying out work experiences (volunteer work, internships, summer jobs), and perhaps taking a gap year before getting additional education (college, community college, technical training).

"Launching into Young Adulthood with ADHD ... Ready or Not!" also offers plentiful advice on building a strong, positive parent-child relationship and recognizing and addressing anxiety and depression and low self-esteem. With a hopeful and personable message, the authors share their own and other parents' insights about avoiding common missteps and mitigating the impacts of ADHD. "Launching into Young Adulthood with ADHD ... Ready or Not!" is top-notch DIY guide to helping young people define and prep for the future with its very specific ADHD strategies and collaborative approach to launching teens into their life's journey.

Critique: Exceptionally well written, practical, comprehensive, encouraging, and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Launching into Young Adulthood with ADHD ... Ready or Not!" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library Parenting, ADHD, and Adolescent Counseling collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of parents, highschool counselors, psychology students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Launching into Young Adulthood with ADHD ... Ready or Not!" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $21.99).

Editorial Note #1: Chris A. Zeigler Dendy is a popular author, educator, school psychologist, and mental health professional with more than forty years' experience and is the mother of three children with ADHD, LD, and executive function deficits. She provides training nationally and internationally.

Editorial Note #2: Ruth Hughes, PhD, has been a national leader in the field of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder for many years. During her tenure as the CEO of Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD), Dr. Hughes advocated with Congress and the federal government to ensure the rights and access to treatment for children and adults with ADHD. She instituted the widely recognized Parent to Parent Training Program, which has helped thousands of parents learn to manage ADHD in the family. Teacher to Teacher, a training program on ADHD for teachers, was also launched under her leadership.


The Environmental Studies Shelf

Thicker Than Water
Erica Cirino
Island Press
2000 M St NW Suite 650, Washington, DC 20036
www.islandpress.org
https://www.dreamscapepublishing.com
9781642831375, $27.00, HC, 272pp

https://www.amazon.com/Thicker-Than-Water-Solutions-Plastic/dp/1642831379

Synopsis: Disgarded plastic is the primary contaminant of our oceans today and are created havoc with marine life. Instead of a great island of trash, the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch is made up of manmade debris spread over hundreds of miles of sea -- more like a soup than a floating garbage dump. Recycling is more complicated than we were taught: less than nine percent of the plastic we create is reused, and the majority ends up in the ocean. And plastic pollution isn't confined to the open ocean: it's in much of the air we breathe and the food we eat.

In "Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis", journalist and environmentalist Erica Cirino brings readers on a globe-hopping journey to meet the scientists and activists telling the real story of the plastic crisis. From the deck of a plastic-hunting sailboat with a disabled engine, to the labs doing cutting-edge research on microplastics and the chemicals we ingest, Cirino paints a full picture of how plastic pollution is threatening wildlife and human health.

"Thicker Than Water" also reveals that the plastic crisis is also a tale of environmental injustice, as poorer nations take in a larger share of the world's trash, and manufacturing chemicals threaten predominantly Black and low-income communities.

There is some hope on the horizon, with new laws banning single-use items and technological innovations to replace plastic in our lives. But Cirino shows that we can only fix the problem if we face its full scope and begin to rep

Critique: Incredible timely given the current focus on climate change and the growing contamination of plastic wastes in our oceans, seas, rivers and lakes, it is imperative that "Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis" be a part of every community, college, and university library Contemporary Environmental Studies collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis" is also available for the personal reading lists of students, academia, environmental activists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject in a digital book format (Kindle, $20.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Dreamscape Media, 9781666519679, $22.99, CD).

Editorial Note: Erica Cirino is a science writer and artist who explores the intersection of the human and nonhuman worlds. Her photographic and written works have appeared in Scientific American, The Guardian, VICE, Hakai Magazine, The Atlantic, and other esteemed publications. She is a recipient of fellowships from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, and Safina Center, as well as several awards for visual art.


The Pets/Wildlife Shelf

Asia's Wildlife
Fanny Lai, author
Bjorn Olesen, author
Periplus Editions
c/o Tuttle Publishing
364 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon, VT 05759-9436
www.tuttlepublishing.com
www.periplus.com
9780794608132, $34.99, HC, 256pp

https://www.amazon.com/Asias-Wildlife-Proceeds-Birdlife-International/dp/0794608132

Synopsis: "Asia's Wildlife: A Journey to the Forests of Hope" provides rare insights into Asia's breathtaking tropical forests and the rare species that inhabit them -- many of which are now endangered.

Produced to raise funds and awareness of nature conservation through their Forest of Hope program, Asia's Wildlife is a mesmerizing year-long photographic journey of the expedition taken by Fanny Lai and photographer Bjorn Olesen. Readers can become part of their journey as they observe, photograph, and describe Asia's most distinctive animal species.

The trip brings you as an armchair traveler to the most remote and biodiverse forests in eight different countries in Asia, and gives you the opportunity to learn about rarely seen (let alone photographed) endangered animal species.

"Asia's Wildlife" showcases more than 190 images and illustrations, and features 129 different animal species, of which 72 are national endemics, including: The Giant Cloud Rat; The majestic Philippine Eagle; The critically endangered Helmeted Hornbill -- and many other fascinating creatures!

"Asia's Wildlife" also includes the ongoing conservation efforts to protect these precious forests, as well as very real threats to the future of the animals and habitats.

Critique: A beautifully presented compendium of memorable full color wildlife photography published in a hardcover coffee-table style format (9.6 x 1 x 10.7 inches), "Asia's Wildlife: A Journey to the Forests of Hope" is an especially and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library Wildlife & Endangered Species collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, wildlife preservation activists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that ""Asia's Wildlife: A Journey to the Forests of Hope" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.03).

Editorial Note: Proceeds from the sale of "Asia's Wildlife: A Journey to the Forests of Hope" will go to support the conservation activities of Bird Life International.


The Cookbook Shelf

The Fair Trade Ingredient Cookbook
Nettie Cronish
Whitecap Books Ltd.
www.whitecap.ca
9781770503304, $34.95, PB, 246pp

https://www.amazon.com/Fair-Trade-Cookbook-Nettie-Cronish/dp/1770503307

Synopsis: We live in an age when consumers are more informed than ever about what they buy, eat and use. Local producers and chefs educate their customers to understand exactly where the food they consume comes from and how it was grown or raised. People are eager to educate themselves, and to spend money on products and ingredients that benefit their bodies, environment and communities. That is why buying fair trade ingredients has a tremendous social impact.

With the publication of "The Fair Trade Ingredient Cookbook", culinary expert and social activist Nettie Cronish gives consumers an understanding of the process -- explaining how an ingredient qualifies for fair trade certification and how that product reaches a supermarket shelf. Each chapter will include an interview with a fair trade producer and provide background along with the benefits of fair trade ingredients.

From the cocoa farmers in Belize, the campesina coffee growers of Chiapas, the banana farmers and workers of Ecuador, to the Palestinian olive growers of the West Bank, " We live in an age when consumers are more informed than ever about what they buy, eat and use. Local producers and chefs educate their customers to understand exactly where the food they consume comes from and how it was grown or raised. People are eager to educate themselves, and to spend money on products and ingredients that benefit their bodies, environment and communities. That is why buying fair trade ingredients has a tremendous social impact.

With The Fair Trade Ingredient Cookbook, Nettie Cronish gives consumers an understanding of the process -- explaining how an ingredient qualifies for fair trade certification and how that product reaches a supermarket shelf. Each chapter will include an interview with a fair trade producer and provide background along with the benefits of fair trade ingredients.

From the cocoa farmers in Belize, the campesina coffee growers of Chiapas, the banana farmers and workers of Ecuador, to the Palestinian olive growers of the West Bank, "The Fair Trade Ingredient Cookbook" is also the story of farmers and workers sharing the desire for a better world.

"The Fair Trade Ingredient Cookbook" is comprised of diverse, palate pleasing, appetite satisfying recipes using fair trade ingredients that would charm many a palate ranging from Chai Rice Pudding (using fair trade coconut milk); Garlic Braised Swiss Chard (using fair trade olive oil); Guinness Cocoa Cake (using fair trade cocoa); and Organic Meringues (using fair trade sugar); to Quinoa Falafel Balls (using fair trade quinoa); Espresso Glazed Coffee Cake (using fair trade coffee); and Curried Banana Cream Pie (using fair trade bananas).

Critique: Nettie Cronish is a food writer, recipe developer and health and wellness seminar instructor. She has been teaching vegetarian cooking classes for the past 20 years and is the author of 3 cookbooks including Everyday Flexitarian, Flex Appeal and Nourish. Her newest culinary compendium is beautifully illustrated throughout -- making "The Fair Trade Ingredient Cookbook" a unique and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, and community library cookbook collections.

Essential
Ollie Dabbous
Bloomsbury Press
www.bloomsbury.com
9781408843956, $35.00, HC, 320pp

https://www.amazon.com/Untitled-By-Ollie-Dabbous/dp/1408843951

Synopsis: What ever the culinary culture of the cuisine, the best foods are always the simplest, whether cooking at home or in a restaurant. "Essential" is cookbook compendium of simply outstanding recipes in which Michelin-starred chef Ollie Dabbous has created to help home cooks everywhere elevate go-to dishes into something special, through easy techniques, few pieces of equipment, and concise ingredients that work together to create the most delicious flavors.

Organized by ingredient type, from Grains to Shellfish to Sugar and Honey, the 100 recipes in Essential are all basics that Dabbous teaches us how to make just right. Ranging from baked eggs, roasted vegetables, and flatbread to dishes with a bit more flare, like creamy spinach toast, meals made from "Essential" are sure to wow whomever sits down to eat at the table.

With gorgeous photographs and sleek, elegantly classic design, Essential is the can't-miss cookbook for home cooks looking to ace their everyday menu.

Critique: Profusely and beautifully illustrated throughout, "Essential" is an elegant compilation of palate pleasing, appetite satisfying dishes that will transform any meal from the ordinary to the extraordinary. While "Essential" is especially recommended for community library contemporary cookbook collections, it should be noted for the family chef that it is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.16).

Editorial Note: Ollie Dabbous started cooking as a kitchen hand in Florence when he was fifteen. He worked at Kensington Place for Rowley Leigh, but it was his years spent working with Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons that most profoundly influenced his cooking. He went on to be head chef at the Scandinavian-influenced Texture on Portman Street, and has also spent time at Mugaritz, Noma, Hibiscus, L'Astrance, Pierre Gagnaire and WD50. In January 2012 he opened DABBOUS to rapturous reviews, and was awarded a Michelin star within months.

One Dish Fish
Lola Milne
Kyle Books
c/o Octopus Books
www.octopusbooksusa.com
9780857839480, $22.99 hc / $9.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/One-Dish-Fish-Simple-Recipes/dp/0857839489

Synopsis: Fish and seafood can be wonderfully quick to prepare and cook, but as ingredients they strike fear into the hearts of many - even those who otherwise feel confident in the kitchen.

All of the recipes in One Dish Fish are cooked in the oven in one dish or roasting pan. Geared towards speed and convenience, they are organized into chapters divided by time frame - 20 minutes, 30 minutes and 45 minutes - with most being ready in half an hour. From Slow-roasted salmon with citrus, harissa and capers to Anchovy, garlic, chilli and broccoli pasta, Lola's dishes are perfect for fish lovers of all cooking abilities.

Critique: One Dish Fish: 70 Quick and Simple Recipes to Cook in the Oven lives up to its title as a kitchen cook-friendly, practical-minded cookbook to preparing fish and seafood. Every dish is cooked in a single dish or roasting pan; recipes are sorted by time frame (20, 30, or 45 minutes). Each recipe features easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions and many are illustrated with a full- color, full-page photograph. One Dish Fish is a "must-have" for seafood enthusiasts, or anyone interested in eating less red meat without sacrificing taste or convenience. Highly recommended! It should be noted for personal reading lists that One Dish Fish is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).

Editorial Note: Lola Milne's eyes were opened to the world of cookbooks, food photography and styling when she did work experience with Jamie Oliver and his food team. After school, she went to Glasgow School of Art and studied Fine Art Photography, though food continued to weave through her work there. After graduating she decided to return to the world of food styling and started working in the kitchens of cafes and bakeries while doing work experience with food stylists. She then progressed to assisting full time and then to being a stylist herself, expanding along the way into recipe testing and then writing. Lola's first book, Take One Can, was published in 2020 by Kyle Books.


The Business Shelf

Getting Price Right
Gerald Smith
Columbia Business School Publishing
c/o Columbia University Press
61 West 62nd Street, New York, NY 10023-7015
http://cup.columbia.edu
9780231190701, $40.00, HC, 352pp

https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Price-Right-Behavioral-Profitable/dp/0231190700

Synopsis: How do business leaders, managers, and proprietors go about the essential task of setting prices for their goods and services? What biases enter into this process, and why? How can a business debias its price setting to become more productive, strategic, and profitable?

Combining perceptive insights from behavioral economics with leading-edge ideas on price management, "Getting Price Right: The Behavioral Economics of Profitable Pricing" by Gerald Smith offers a new approach to pricing. Smith demonstrates why understanding, reframing, and refining everyday pricing processes (a firm's or manager's pricing orientation) results in a better long-term pricing strategy. He also explores how pricing actually happens in practice and shows how to identify and remove the psychological blinders that cause sub-optimal decisions and policies. Smith details how to improve pricing orientation by combining the soft behavioral skills that intuitively shape and refine pricing practice with the hard analytic skills that guide and structure pricing strategy. The result is more rational and more profitable pricing with respect to not only revenue and profitability but also employee productivity and customer satisfaction.

Critique: Offering an accessible and actionable model, "Getting Price Right" pioneers the way to apply behavioral economics to managerial price setting. It is essential for corporate business leaders, thought leaders, and professionals interested in advances in pricing and for managers, entrepreneurs, proprietors, and small and midsize business owners whose everyday work involves pricing.

While especially and unreservedly recommended for community, corporate, college, and university library Business Marketing instructional reference collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of entrepreneurs, corporate executives, business managers, MBA students, academia, economists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Getting Price Right: The Behavioral Economics of Profitable Pricing" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $19.99).

Editorial Note: Gerald Smith is a business professor and chair of the Marketing Department at Boston College in the Carroll School of Management. He is also the author of The Opt-Out Effect: Marketing Strategies That Empower Consumers and Win Customer-Driven Brand Loyalty (2016) and editor of Visionary Pricing: Reflections and Advances in Honor of Dan Nimer (2012).

It's Time to Talk about Race at Work
Kelly McDonald
Wiley
c/o Wiley Professional Trade Group
111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
9781119790877, $26.00, HC, 224pp

https://www.amazon.com/Time-Talk-about-Race-Work/dp/1119790875

Synopsis: Many non-racist white businessmen want to create change in their companies but are not certain as to how to do so appropriately and effectively.

How do you know where the blind spots are that can create obstacles for people of color? Your intentions may be sincere and heartfelt, but good intentions aren't enough.

In "It's Time to Talk about Race at Work: Every Leader's Guide to Making Progress on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion", author Kelly McDonald delivers a much-needed roadmap for business people. This instructive guide will help to successfully create a fair and equitable workplace that recognizes diverse talent and fosters productive and constructive conversations in any organization. It's "Time to Talk about Race at Work" does not approach diversity from the standpoint of social activism or an HR perspective. Instead, it shows exactly what to do and how to do it so that anyone can make real progress on diversity and inclusion, regardless of the size of your organization.

Presented with a clear, "real talk" style that makes it easy to learn, "It's Time to Talk about Race at Work" covers: The costs and risks incurred if an organization lacks diversity; How people who don't consider themselves to be racist may still have diversity blind spots; How to start the hard conversations; The STARTING Method (an eight-step framework that shows how to ensure diversity and inclusion efforts that are effective); How to recognize the excuses people use to avoid taking action on diversity and inclusion; How to address the issues and comments that come up when employees feel nervous, resentful, or uncomfortable as you make headway on diversity in your organization

Critique: Exceptionally well written, and thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "It's Time to Talk about Race at Work: Every Leader's Guide to Making Progress on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" is an ideal instructional guide and manual for corporate executives, business managers, and leaders in both profit and non-profit organizations of all types and sizes. While highly recommended for community, corporate, college, and university library Business Management collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of employees, MBA students, academia, entrepreneurs, and business managers that "It's Time to Talk about Race at Work: Every Leader's Guide to Making Progress on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.00).

Editorial Note: Kelly McDonald is a professional speaker and expert on diversity in business. She's authored three bestselling books on marketing, the customer experience and leadership, all from the standpoint of working with people "not like you".


The Military Shelf

Bitskrieg: The New Challenge of Cyberwarfare
John Arquilla
Polity
www.politybooks.com
c/o John Wiley and Sons (dist.)
www.wiley.com
9781509543625, $64.95, HC, 240pp

https://www.amazon.com/Bitskrieg-Challenge-Cyberwarfare-John-Arquilla/dp/1509543627

Synopsis: The story of modern warfare is one of new technologies changing how we protect our citizens and wage our wars. Among militaries, everything taken for granted about the ability to maneuver and fight is now undermined by vulnerability to "weapons of mass disruption": cutting-edge computer worms, viruses, and invasive robot networks. At home, billions of household appliances and other "smart" items that form the Internet of Things risk being taken over, then added to the ranks of massive, malicious "zombie" armies. The age of Bitskrieg is here, bringing vexing threats that range from the business sector to the battlefield.

"Bitskrieg: The New Challenge of Cyberwarfare", cybersecurity expert John Arquilla looks unflinchingly at the challenges posed by cyberwarfare -- which he persuasively argues have been neither met nor mastered. He offers fresh solutions for protecting against enemies that are often anonymous, unpredictable, and capable of projecting force and influence vastly disproportionate to their size, strength, or wealth. The changes called for require radical rethinking of military and security affairs, diplomacy, and even the routines of our daily lives.

Critique: Impressively informed and informative, "Bitskrieg: The New Challenge of Cyberwarfare" is a ground breaking volume that must be considered an essential addition to personal, professional, community, governmental, college, and university library Military History & Strategy collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, military strategists, governmental policy makers, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Bitskrieg: The New Challenge of Cyberwarfare" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781509543632, $22.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.00).

Editorial Note: John Arquilla is the Distinguished Professor of Defense Analysis at the United States Naval Postgraduate School. For more than 30 years, his ideas have influenced the discourse on military and security affairs in the Cyber Age.

The Tiger from Poznan
Richard Siegert
Pen & Sword Books
https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
c/o Casemate (US distribution)
www.casematepublishers.com
9781526779175, $32.95, HC, 184pp

https://www.amazon.com/Tiger-Pozna%C5%84-Richard-Siegert/dp/152677917X

Synopsis: In the Second World War, Poznan was a key river crossing and railway junction on the Polish-German border. When the alarm was given indicating the Red Army's approach in January 1945, the city's 80-100,000 German civilians were speedily evacuated, leaving a garrison of some 15,000 men, mostly poorly-armed infantry, to face the rigors of a siege conducted by a massively superior and ruthless enemy anxious to acquire this transport center, which was vital for the advance on Berlin.

"The Tiger from Poznan" by Richard Siegert is the autobiographical account of Eastern Front veteran Richard Siegert (1922-2012), who was the gunner and later commander of the German defenders' sole Tiger tank. Since the death of the driver in a futile attempt to escape from a POW camp in Russia just after the end of the war, Siegert is the only survivor of that crew able to pass its record on to posterity. His account details how the crew fought gallantly against impossible odds, even when the Tiger was immobilized and could only act as a stationary antitank gun post or pillbox during the last desperate days of the German military fighting for the citadel.

Critique: An inherently fascinating and impressively informative account from a German perspective, Richard Siegert's "The Tiger from Poznan" will be of immense interest for World War II military history buffs and an important, appreciated, and valued addition to community, college, and university library World War II Military History & Biography collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists that "The Tiger from Poznan" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.99).

Hitler's Strategic Bombing Offensive on the Eastern Front
Dmitry Degtev, author
Dmitry Zubov, author
Air World Books
c/o Pen & Sword Books
https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
Casemate (distributor)
www.casematepublishers.com
9781526789891, $42.95, HC, 248pp

https://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Strategic-Bombing-Offensive-Eastern/dp/1526789892

Synopsis: Hitler's German military air force was never able to match the power of the Allied air forces with their great four-engine bombers, the Lancasters, Liberators and Flying Fortresses. Indeed, many have ascribed the defeat of Germany in the Second World to its lack of a strategic bombing force. There were, though, two occasions when the Luftwaffe's twin-engine bombers undertook strategic objectives on a large scale. The first of these was the 'Blitz' of 1940-1941, in which the Luftwaffe attempted to wreck Britain's industrial and military capacity. The second was on the eve of Operation Zitadelle, a major offensive against Soviet forces in the Kursk salient.

Hitler's objective was to replicate the successful Allied mass-bombing of German cities, the Luftwaffe being tasked with destroying the main tank and aircraft production facilities and fuel depots. Hitler saw this as the necessary prelude to weaken the Russians before the 'decisive' onslaught of Zitadelle.

The aerial operation, Carmen II, lasted for a month and covered a huge target area from the Rybinsk reservoir to the Caspian Sea. For these complex and risky night missions, all the Ju-88 and -111 bombers available to Hitler in the East were employed.

For their book, "Hitler's Strategic Bombing Offensive on the Eastern Front: Blitz Over the Volga, 1943", co-authors Dmitry Degtev and Dmitry Zubov have collected a huge amount of factual material, reconstructing all the details of this little-known campaign, which was the largest operation Luftwaffe on the Eastern front. This military history opens a completely new page in the history of the German air war and provides a comprehensive investigation into the nature of the targets attacked, the degree of damage suffered by the Soviet military machine, and how this affected Operation Zitadelle.

The descriptions of the dangerous missions carried out by Luftwaffe as part of this operation are presented in great detail and all these exclusive facts are complemented by a large number of unique photos and documents.

Critique: An impressively and meticulously detailed history drawn from original sources and documents is an unreservedly recommended addition to the growing library of World War II Aerial Combat collections. Exceptionally informative and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Hitler's Strategic Bombing Offensive on the Eastern Front: Blitz Over the Volga, 1943" is an important addition to personal, community, college, and university library World War II History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of military buffs, military historians, students, and academia that "Hitler's Strategic Bombing Offensive on the Eastern Front: Blitz Over the Volga, 1943" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $18.99).

Editorial Note: The author of twenty-nine books, Dmitry Degtev is one of the leading Russian researchers of the history of the Second World War, having studied the air battles of the Second World War and the history of the Luftwaffe for more than twenty years. He currently lectures at Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University. Psychologist and Associate Professor, Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University Dmitry Zubov is the author of twenty-two on military history.


The General Fiction Shelf

Drowned Town
Jayne Moore Waldrop
The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, KY 40508-4008
www.kentuckypress.com
9781950564156, $24.95, HC, 272pp

https://www.amazon.com/Drowned-Town-Jayne-Moore-Waldrop/dp/1950564150

Synopsis: In her newest novel, "Drowned Town", author Jayne Moore Waldrop explores the multigenerational impact caused by the loss of home and illuminates the joys and sorrows of a group of people bound together by western Kentucky's Land Between the Lakes and the lakes that lie on either side of it.

The linked stories comprising "Drowned Town" are rooted in a landscape forever altered by the mid-twentieth-century impoundment of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers and the seizing of property under the power of eminent domain to create a national recreation area on the narrow strip of land between the lakes. The massive federal land and water projects completed in quick succession were designed to serve the public interest by providing hydroelectric power, flood control, and economic progress for the region -- at great sacrifice for those who gave up their homes, livelihoods, towns, and history.

The narrative follows two women whose lives are shaped by their friendship and connection to the place, and their stories go back and forth in time to show how the creation of the lakes both healed and hurt the people connected to them. In the process, the stories emphasize the importance of sisterhood and family, both blood and created, and how we cannot separate ourselves from our places in the world.

Critique: A deftly crafted and impressively original novel that pays meticulous attention to the accuracy of historical detail, "Drowned Town" is a thought-provoking and emotionally memorable read from cover to cover. While especially recommended for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Drowned Town" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $18.99).


The Literary Fiction Shelf

Planet of Clay
Samar Yazbek
World Editions
https://www.worldeditions.org
9781642861013, $16.99, PB, 336pp

https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Clay-Samar-Yazbek/dp/1642861014

Synopsis: Rima, a young girl from Damascus, longs to walk, to be free to follow the will of her feet, but instead is perpetually constrained. Rima finds refuge in a fantasy world full of colored crayons, secret planets, and The Little Prince, reciting passages of the Qur'an like a mantra as everything and everyone around her is blown to bits.

Since Rima hardly ever speaks, people think she's crazy, but she is no fool -- the madness is in the battered city around her. One day while taking a bus through Damascus, a soldier opens fire and her mother is killed. Rima, wounded, is taken to a military hospital before her brother leads her to the besieged area of Ghouta -- where, between bombings, she writes her story.

Critique: With the publication of his novel, "Planet of Clay", Islamic Samar Yazbek offers a surreal depiction of the horrors taking place in Syria, in vivid and poetic language (ably translated from Arabic into English by Leri Price) and with a sharp eye for detail and beauty. A compelling, heart-wrenching, memorable read, "Planet of Clay" is a highly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists that "Planet of Clay" is readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note #1: Samar Yazbek is a Syrian writer, novelist, and journalist. She was born in Jableh in 1970 and studied literature before beginning her career as a journalist and a scriptwriter for Syrian television and film. Her novels include Child of Heaven, Clay, Cinnamon, In Her Mirrors, and Planet of Clay. Her accounts of the Syrian conflict include A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution and The Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria. Yazbek's work has been translated into multiple languages and has been recognized with numerous awards -- notably, the French Best Foreign Book Award, the PEN-Oxfam Novib, PEN Tucholsky, and PEN Pinter awards.

Editorial Note #2: Leri Price is an award-winning literary translator of contemporary Arabic fiction. Price's translation of Khaled Khalifa's Death Is Hard Work was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Translated Literature (US) and winner of the 2020 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation. Her translation of Khaled Khalifa's No Knives in the Kitchens of This City was shortlisted for the ALTA National Translation Award. Price's other recent translations include Sarab by award-winning writer Raja Alem.


The Romantic Fiction Shelf

His Accidental Countess
Annie Burrows
Mills & Boon
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9780263289497, $30.95, HC, Large Print, 379pp

https://www.amazon.com/His-Accidental-Countess/dp/0263289494

Synopsis: To stop an unsuitable elopement, Tobias Spenlow bundles his ward's intended bride into his carriage -- only to discover he's made a terrible mistake. The woman is actually innocent governess Miss Dorothy Phillips whose reputation he has now unintentionally ruined! The only way to right this wrong is for the earl to wed her. She might have accidentally become his countess, but their consuming attraction has him courting her in earnest!

Critique: A unique and compulsively entertaining Regency Romance, this large print hardcover edition of "His Accidental Countess" by the imaginatively talented romance author Annie Burrows will prove to be a welcome and popular addition to the personal reading lists of all dedicated Regency Romance fans and a valued and appreciated addition to community library Historical Romance Fiction collections.

Flirting With His Forbidden Lady
Laura Martin
Mills & Boon
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9780263283884, $30.95, HC, Large Print, 380pp

https://www.amazon.com/Flirting-His-Forbidden-Lady-Ashburton/dp/0263283887

Synopsis: Newly returned from India, Joshua Ashburton hasn't seen his brother for years and heads straight to his London townhouse. A ball is underway filled with the cream of society, including one Lady Elizabeth Hummingford. Captivated by her vitality and sparkle, he's shocked to learn she's all but engaged to his brother! It's a loveless, convenient match, but how can Josh persuade her she's chosen the wrong brother when he's set to return abroad?

Critique: An intriguing regency romance by a skilled master of the genre, "Flirting With His Forbidden Lady: A Regency Family is Reunited" is the first volume of author Laura Martin's new 'The Ashburton Reunion' series. Deftly crafted characters, surprising plot twists, "Flirting With His Forbidden Lady" is vintage regency romance at its very best! This large print hard cover addition is fully recommended for the personal reading lists of all dedicated regency romance fans and community library Historical Romance collections.


The Western Fiction Shelf

Death's Tally
Bradford Scott
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781785419577, $TBA, PB, Large Print, 272pp

https://www.ulverscroft.com/title.php?sqlCmd=isbn%3D9781785419577

Synopsis: When lawman Walt Slade arrives to put a lid on the lethal violence plaguing the town of Sanderson City, the people of this oil, railroad, and cattle raising community is set to blow sky-high in his face. A lit fuse, a shotgun blast in the dark -- and the ace undercover Texas Ranger is plunged into a searing sixgun showdown with a greed-crazed pack of killers led by the most formidable villain Slade has every encountered.

Critique: A ripping great action adventure with many a gunsmoking twist and turn, "Death's Tally" is another consummate western by western novelist Bradford Scott. This large print paperback addition of "Death's Tally" (originally published in 1968) is very highly recommended for a new generation of avid western fans and will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to community library Western Fiction collections.

Match Race
Fred Grove
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781785419546, $TBA, PB, 464pp

https://www.ulverscroft.com/title.php?sqlCmd=isbn%3D9781785419546

Synopsis: Quarter horse racing presents a thrill few men in the Old West can resist and Dude McQuinn, Coyote Walking, and Billy Lockhart are no exception as they go from town to town, matching and trading racehorses. Dude is the straight-talking front man, Coyote the jockey, and Billy the veterinarian who concocts potions that can cure a horse of anything -- at least temporarily. But old uncle Billy is being watched by a strange man in a black bowler hat a man who knows a secret about his past.

Critique: There are western novels, and then there are novels set in the west. "Match Race" by Fred Grove is one of the latter -- and a very good one at that. "Match Race" has all the elements of a true saga and will have a very special appeal for readers with an interest in horses. As reflected by "Match Race", horses had three major roles to play in the Old West: transportation, farm labor, and entertainment in the form of recreational racing -- some times for very high stakes and prone to all manner of mischief. This large print paperback edition of "Match Race" from the Linford Western library is an inherently fascinating and well crafted read -- and a welcome addition to any community library Western Fiction collection.

Red River Stage
Fred Grove
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781785419737, $TBA, PB, Large Print, 368pp

https://www.ulverscroft.com/title.php?sqlCmd=isbn%3D9781785419737

Synopsis: Fred Grove (born Frederick Herridge; July 4, 1913 - September 2008) was a Native American author and winner of five prestigious "Spur Awards" from Western Writers of America for his western novels. This large print paperback edition of "Red River Stage" is an anthology of twelve of Grove's best western short stories, each one a deftly crafted gem of narrative driven storytelling and originally published in the 1950s & 1960s.

Critique: Bringing back into print the western short stories of one of the genre's most gifted and talented writers for a new generation of appreciative readers, "Red River Stage" is an especially recommended addition to the personal reading lists of any and all dedicated western fans and will prove to be an enduringly welcome and popular addition to community library Western Fiction collections. Of special note is that of the twelve short stories comprising "Red River Stage", two of them feature a Native American perspective ('Comanche Woman' & 'Be Brave My Son').


The Mystery/Suspense Shelf

The Painting
Alison Booth
Aurora Large Print
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781787827479, $TBA, PB, 310pp

https://www.ulverscroft.com/title.php?sqlCmd=isbn%3D9781787827431

Synopsis: When Anika Molnar flees her home country of Hungary not long before the break-up of the Soviet Union, she carries only a small suitcase - and a beautiful and much-loved painting of an auburn-haired woman in a cobalt blue dress from her family's hidden collection.

Arriving in Australia, Anika moves in with her aunt in Sydney, and the painting hangs in pride of place in her bedroom. But one day it is stolen in what seems to be a carefully planned theft, and Anika's carefree life takes a more ominous turn. Sinister secrets from her family's past and Hungary's fraught history cast suspicion over the painting's provenance, and she embarks on a gripping quest to uncover the truth.

Hungary's war-torn past contrasts sharply with Australia's bright new world of opportunity in this moving and compelling mystery.

Critique: An inherently fascinating, deftly crafted, and entertaining novel of mystery and suspense by an author with an author whose narrative driven storytelling skills are on full display, this large print edition of "The Painting" by Alison Booth is fully endorsed and recommended for the personal reading lists of dedicated mystery fans and community library Mystery/Suspense collections.

Editorial Note: Alison Booth was born in Melbourne, brought up in Sydney and has worked in the UK and in Australia as a professor as well as a novelist. Alison's work has been translated into French and has also been published by Reader's Digest Select Editions in both Asia and Europe. Alison, who holds a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics, is an active public speaker and has participated in many writers' festivals and literary events.


The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf

The Last Shadow
Orson Scott Card
Tor/Forge Books
www.tor-forge.com
www.macmillanaudio.com
9780765304957, $27.99, HC, 320pp

https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Other-Tales-Ender-Universe/dp/0765304953

Synopsis: One planet. Three sapient species living peacefully together. And one deadly virus that could wipe out every world in the Starways Congress, killing billions. Is the only answer another great Xenocide? "The Last Shadow" is the long-awaited conclusion to both the original Ender series and the Ender's Shadow series, as the children of Ender and Bean solve the great problem of the Ender Universe -- avoiding the extinction of the human race.

Critique: Orson Scott Card is an iconic science fiction author and "The Last Shadow" is one of his best efforts yet in a storied career replete with numerous science fiction awards. While a 'must have' acquisition for community library Science Fiction & Fantasy collections, it should be noted for the legions of Orson Scott Card fans that "The Last Shadow" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Macmillan Audio, 9781250818157, $39.99, CD).


The Technology Shelf

An Introduction to Optical Wireless Mobile Communications
Harald Hass, et al.
Artech House
685 Canton Street, Norwood, MA 02062
www.artechhouse.com
9781630816551, $159.00, HC, 406pp

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Optical-Wireless-Mobile-Communications/dp/16308165 58

Synopsis: The use of the optical spectrum for wireless communications has gained significant interest in recent years. Applications range from low-rate simplex transmission links using existing embedded CMOS cameras in smartphones, referred to as optical camera communications (OCC), mobile light fidelity (LiFi) networking in homes, offices, urban and sub-sea environments to free-space gigabit interconnects in data centers and point-to-point long-range wireless backhaul links outdoors and in space.

"An Introduction to Optical Wireless Mobile Communications" by the team of Harald Haas, Mohamed Sufyan Islim, Cheng Chen, and Hanaa Abumarshould is exciting and comprehensive introduction that focuses on the use of optical wireless communications (OWC) for mobile use cases. Channel modeling techniques are provided for mobile multiuser scenarios, and will introduce key building blocks to achieve LiFi cellular networks achieving orders of magnitude improvements of area spectral efficiency compared to state-of-the-art. Challenges that arise from moving from a static point-to-point visible light link to a LiFi network that is capable of serving hundreds of mobile and fixed nodes are discussed. An overview of recent standardization activities and the commercialization challenges of this disruptive technology is also provided.

Critique: Exceptionally well organized and presented, as well as enhanced for academia with the inclusion of a twelve page listing of Acronyms and Abbreviations, and a thirteen page Index, "An Introduction to Optical Wireless Mobile Communications" is especially recommended as a curriculum textbook on the subject and unreservedly appropriate for professional, corporate, technical school, college, and university library Wireless Technology instructional and reference collections.

Antenna-on-Chip: Design, Challenges, and Opportunities
Hammad M. Cheema, author
Fatima Khalid, author
Atif Shamim, author
Artech House
685 Canton Street, Norwood, MA 02062
www.artechhouse.com
9781608078189, $149.00, HC, 278pp

https://www.amazon.com/Antenna-on-Chip-Design-Challenges-and-Opportunities/dp/1608078183

Synopsis: Antennas are essential part of every wireless communication system. The increasing trend of applications in the radio frequency (RF) and millimeter wave frequency spectrum has reduced the antenna sizes to only a few millimeters, which makes it practical for on-chip implementations.

Integrated Circuit (IC) designers who have traditionally remained isolated from antenna design now need to understand its design process and trade-offs. "Antenna-on-Chip: Design, Challenges, and Opportunities" by the team of Hammad M. Cheema, Fatima Khalid, and Atif Shamim is a comprehensive resource that directly addresses the challenges, benefits and trade-offs of on-chip antenna implementation. It also presents practical design and integration considerations of the IC and antenna combination and how both ends of the system can be utilized in a complimentary way.

"Antenna-on-Chip: Design, Challenges, and Opportunities" also includes on-chip antenna layout considerations, layout for testability and various methods of their characterization, as well as providing a view of the future trends and utilization of on-chip antennas for different applications.

Critique: An ideal curriculum textbook on the subject, "Antenna-on-Chip: Design, Challenges, and Opportunities" is extraordinarily well organized and presented in six major sections: Introduction to Antenna-on-Chip; Designs and Implementation Challenges; Radiation Enhancement and Measurement Techniques; Codesign of Circuits and Antennas; AoC Design Examples; Future Trends in AoC. While highly recommended, especially for college and university library Contemporary Technology Collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, technicians, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Antenna-on-Chip: Design, Challenges, and Opportunities" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $53.58).

Editorial Note #1: Hammad M. Cheema is an associate professor and dean of the Research Institute for Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Studies (RIMMS) at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, as well as principal investigator of the Radar Research Group.

Editorial Note #2: Atif Shamim is an associate professor of electrical engineering and principal investigator of the IMPACT Lab at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Carleton University, Canada. Dr. Shamim has delivered over 65 invited talks at various international forums, authored over 250 publications, holds 30 patents, and is a senior member of IEEE.

Editorial Note #3: Fatima Khalid is a research scientist in the domain of antenna design and RF energy harvesting. She received her B.S. in electrical engineering from the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS), NUST, and her M.S. in RF and microwave engineering from RIMMS, NUST.


The Architecture Shelf

Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing
Louis Kahn, artist
Michael Merrill, editor
Lars Muller Publishers
c/o Distributed Art Publishers
155 Sixth Avenue, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10013-1507
www.artbook.com
9783037786444, $85.00, HC, 512pp

https://www.amazon.com/Louis-Kahn-Importance-Michael-Benedikt/dp/3037786442

Synopsis: Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; March 5 [O.S. February 20] 1901 - March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. While continuing his private practice, he served as a design critic and professor of architecture at Yale School of Architecture from 1947 to 1957. From 1957 until his death, he was a professor of architecture at the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kahn created a style that was monumental and monolithic; his heavy buildings for the most part do not hide their weight, their materials, or the way they are assembled. Famous for his meticulously built works, his provocative proposals that remained unbuilt, and his teaching, Kahn was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. He was awarded the AIA Gold Medal and the RIBA Gold Medal. At the time of his death he was considered by some as "America's foremost living architect". (Wikipedia)

"The importance of a drawing is immense, because it's the architect's language," said the architect Louis Kahn to his masterclass in 1967. While most studies of Kahn focus on his built works or theory and use drawings mainly to illustrate these, this publication chooses to focus on Kahn's drawings as primary sources of insight into his architectural intelligence and imagination. Lavishly illustrated with over 900 high-quality reproductions of work by Kahn and his associates, incisively presented by a group of acclaimed architectural experts, Deftly edited by Michael Merrill, "The Importance of a Drawing" is a deep immersion into Kahn's work and his design process.

A testament to Kahn's masterly craft, "The Importance of a Drawing" also makes a provocative primer on architectural representation by posing timely questions on how architects use drawings to see, learn, conjecture and reveal. Destined to become a standard reference on Kahn, this book is an essential addition to the libraries of established designers as well as students of architecture.
The result of years of extensive research, The Importance of a Drawing contains original contributions and historical texts from Michael Merrill, Michael Benedikt, Michael B. Cadwell, Louis I. Kahn, Nathaniel Kahn, Sue Ann Kahn, David Leatherbarrow, Michael J. Lewis, Robert McCarter, Marshall D. Meyers, Jane Murphy, Harriet Pattison, Gina Pollara, Colin Rowe, David Van Zanten, Richard Wesley and William Whitaker.

Critique: Exceptionally well organized and presented, in a coffee-table style volume format (9.45 x 11.81 inches, 6.7 pounds), "The Importance of a Drawing" is a critically important and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Architecture & Architectural History collections in general, and Louis Kahn supplemental curriculum studies lists in particular.

Shaping Place: Duda|Paine Architects
Turan Duda, author
Jeffrey Paine, compiler
Duda | Paine Architects, compiler
ORO Editions
31 Commercial Blvd. Suite F, Novato CA 94949
https://www.oroeditions.com
9781951541101, $60.00, HC, 348pp

https://www.amazon.com/Shaping-Place-Duda-Paine-Architects/dp/1951541103

Synopsis: In "Shaping Place: Duda|Paine Architects", architectural firm founders Turan Duda, FAIA, and Jeffrey Paine, FAIA, as well as Duda|Paine's studio leaders discuss the evolution of their work and the history of its thematic roots. The firm's ideas on public space, outdoor environments, new working and learning models, and contextual responsiveness come to life in projects for wellness, academia, the workplace and urban development using a range of scales, material qualities, structural systems and architectural palettes. Steve Dumez, FAIA, of Eskew Dumez Ripple, provides new perspective on the firm's work within the larger field of architecture.

Critique: This coffee-table style volume (9 x 1.5 x 11 inches) is an exceptionally informative and profusely illustrated history of a successful and influential architectural firm that will prove to be a welcome and recommended addition to the individual architecture student's reading list, as well as professional, community, college, and university library Contemporary Architecture collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Mid-Michigan Modern
Susan J. Bandes
Michigan State University Press
1405 South Harrison Road, Suite 25, East Lansing, MI 48823-5245
http://msupress.org
9781611862164, $49.95, HC, 320pp

https://www.amazon.com/Mid-Michigan-Modern-Frank-Wright-Googie/dp/1611862167

Synopsis: From 1940 to 1970 mid Michigan had an extensive and varied legacy of modernist architecture. While "Mid-Michigan Modern: From Frank Lloyd Wright to Googie" by Susan J. Bandes explores buildings by renowned architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Alden B. Dow, and the Keck brothers, the text (based on archival research and oral histories) focuses more heavily on regional architects whose work was strongly influenced by international modern styles.

The reader will see a picture emerge in the portrayal of buildings of various typologies, from residences to sacred spaces. The automobile industry, state government, and Michigan State University served as the economic drivers when the mid-Michigan area expanded enormously in the growing optimism and increasing economic prosperity after World War II. Government, professional associations, and private industry sought an architectural style that spoke to forward looking, progressive ideals. Smaller businesses picked a Prairie style that made people feel comfortable. Modernist houses reflected the increasingly informal American lifestyle rooted in the automobile culture.

With a detailed narrative discussing more than 130 buildings and enriched by 150 illustrations, the text comprising "Mid-Michigan Modern: From Frank Lloyd Wright to Googie" is a vibrant start at reclaiming the history of mid-Michigan modernist architecture.

Critique: Profusely illustrated in both color and black/white, "Mid-Michigan Modern: From Frank Lloyd Wright to Googie" is an exceptionally informative, and impressively presented study that will be a welcome addition to professional, community, college, and university library American Architectural History collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of architectural students, academia, architectural historians, professional architects, and non- specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Mid-Michigan Modern: From Frank Lloyd Wright to Googie" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781611862171, $38.98).

Editorial Note: Susan J. Bandes is professor emerita of art history at Michigan State University and director of museum studies. She also served as director of the Kresge Art Museum from 1986 to 2010.


The Biography Shelf

Texas Ranger Captain William L. Wright
Richard B. McCaslin
University of North Texas Press
1155 Union Circle #311336, Denton, TX 76203-5017
www.untpress.unt.edu
9781574418453, $34.95, HC, 416pp

https://www.amazon.com/Texas-Ranger-Captain-William-Wright/dp/1574418459

Synopsis: William L. Wright (1868-1942) was born to be a Texas Ranger, and hard work made him a great one. In his new biography "Texas Ranger Captain William L. Wright", author and historian Professor Richard B. McCaslin argues that, considering his lineage, it is hard to imagine what else he might have done. Eight of Wright's relatives served as Rangers before the Civil War, five joined the Frontier Battalion from 1874 to 1901, and twenty-two were in the Ranger Force from 1901 to 1935. Wright tried working as a cowboy and farmer, but it did not suit him. Instead, he became a deputy sheriff and then a Ranger in 1899, battling a mob in the Laredo Smallpox Riot, policing both sides in the Reese-Townsend Feud, and winning a gunfight at Cotulla.

Wright's need for a better salary led him to leave the Rangers and become a sheriff. He stayed in that office longer than any of his predecessors in Wilson County, keeping the peace during the so-called Bandit Wars, investigating numerous violent crimes, and surviving being stabbed on the gallows by the man he was hanging. When demands for Ranger reform peaked, he was appointed as a captain and served for most of the next twenty years, retiring in 1939 after commanding dozens of Rangers.

Wright emerged unscathed from the Canales investigation, enforced Prohibition in South Texas, and policed oil towns in West Texas, as well as tackling many other legal problems. When he retired, he was the only Ranger in service who had worked under seven governors. More important, historians have included him among the "Big Four" captains of the Ranger Force. Wright thus joins such leaders as Francis A. "Frank" Hamer, Thomas R. "Tom" Hickman, and Manuel T. Gonzaullas, all of whom accompanied him in being inducted into the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame at Waco.

Critique: An exceptional work of meticulous research combined with a genuine flair for writing a non-fiction biography that reads like the most compelling of western novels, "Texas Ranger Captain William L. Wright" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library American Biography collections. Of special and particular interest to both academia and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the history of the Texas Rangers, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Texas Ranger Captain William L. Wright" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $27.96).

Editorial Note: Richard B. McCaslin is Professor of Texas History at the University of North Texas. He is also the author of "Tainted Breeze: The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas, October 1862"; {Lee in the Shadow of Washington"; "Fighting Stock: John S. "Rip" Ford in Texas"; and "Sutherland Springs, Texas" (UNT Press).


The Psychology Shelf

Polyvagal Safety: Attachment, Communication, Self-Regulation
Stephen W. Porges
W. W. Norton & Company
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
www.wwnorton.com
www.tantor.com
9781324016274, $45.00, HC, 320pp

https://www.amazon.com/Polyvagal-Safety-Attachment-Communication-Self-Regulation/dp/1324016272

Synopsis: Polyvagal theory (poly- "many" + vagal "wandering") is a collection of evolutionary, neuroscientific and psychological claims pertaining to the role of the vagus nerve in emotion regulation, social connection and fear response, introduced in 1994 by Stephen Porges. Polyvagal Theory takes its name from the vagus, a cranial nerve that forms the primary component of the parasympathetic nervous system. The traditional view of the autonomic nervous system presents a two-part system: the sympathetic nervous system, which is more activating ("fight/flight"), and the parasympathetic nervous system, which supports health, growth, and restoration ("rest and digest"). Polyvagal theory, by contrast, views the parasympathetic nervous system as being split into two distinct branches: a "ventral vagal system" which supports social engagement, and a "dorsal vagal system" which supports immobilisation behaviours, both "rest and digest" and defensive immobilisation or "shutdown". (Wikipedia)

Ever since publication of The Polyvagal Theory in 2011, demand for information about this innovative perspective has been constant. With the publication of "Polyvagal Safety: Attachment, Communication, Self-Regulation", Professor Stephen W. Porges brings together his most important writings since the publication of that seminal work. At its heart, polyvagal theory is about safety. It provides an understanding that feeling safe is dependent on autonomic states, and that our cognitive evaluations of risk in the environment, including identifying potentially dangerous relationships, play a secondary role to our visceral reactions to people and places.

Our reaction to the continuing global pandemic supports one of the central concepts of polyvagal theory: that a desire to connect safely with others is our biological imperative. Indeed, life may be seen as an inherent quest for safety. These ideas, and more, are outlined in chapters on therapeutic presence, group psychotherapy, yoga and music therapy, autism, trauma, date rape, medical trauma, and COVID-19.

Critique: An absolutely essential and core addition to college and university library Contemporary Clinical Psychology, Neuroscience, and Neuropsychology collections, "Polyvagal Safety: Attachment, Communication, Self-Regulation" is an extraordinary, unique, and invaluable contribution to psychology. An exceptionally well written, organized and presented work of impeccable scholarship, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, psychologists, counselors, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Polyvagal Safety: Attachment, Communication, Self-Regulation is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $19.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Tantor Media/Blackstone Audio, 9798200890217, $41.99, CD).

Editorial Note: Stephen W. Porges, PhD, originator of polyvagal theory, is a Distinguished University Scientist and the founding director of the Kinsey Institute Traumatic Stress Research Consortium at Indiana University. He is also a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina and a co-founder of the Polyvagal Institute.


The Graphic Novel Shelf

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Modern English Edition
William Shakespeare, author
Story adaptation by Crystal S. Chan
Modern English adaptation by Michael Barltrop
Art by Po Tse
Manga Classics
www.mangaclassics.com
9781947808249 $19.99

https://www.amazon.com/Manga-Classics-Midsummer-Nights-English/dp/1947808249

Part of the "Manga Classics" series that transforms timeless works of literature into black-and- white graphic novels with an artistic style resembling Japanese manga, A Midsummer Night's Dream: Modern English Edition presents William Shakespeare's classic comedy about fallout from a quarrel between the King and the Queen of the Fairies in a beautiful and thoroughly accessible format that readers age 13 and up will thoroughly enjoy. This Modern English Edition rewrites Shakespeare's original text in modern-day English, making the core meaning of Shakespeare's work more accessible to readers of all backgrounds (especially those who have learned English as a second language). A Midsummer Night's Dream: Modern English Edition is a wonderful way to re-experience Shakespeare's lighthearted, romantic romp, highly recommended for personal, school, and public library graphic novel collections. Studious readers interested in Shakespeare as originally written are encouraged to investigate the previously published Manga Classics edition of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that uses the complete, unabridged text of Shakespeare's classic work (9781947808102, $17.99).

Smart Girl
Fernando Dagnino
Titan Comics
https://titan-comics.com
9781787737198, $29.99, HC, 208pp

https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Girl-Fernando-Dagnino/dp/1787737195

Synopsis: In the near future, tech giant Gorgona holds a monopoly on computer-human interfaces known as Schemata. These androids have become ubiquitous with everyday life across the world.

Yuki, un-affectionately called 'scrappy' by her owner, is a Smart Girl -- an android servant used for everything from security and domestics to carnal pleasure. When she starts to malfunction, she is soon to be replaced and destroyed. But something in her changes, and Yuki doesn't accept her end, instead, she becomes self-aware...

Taking a stand against her abusive master, Yuki goes on the run. Believed to be defective and hostile, she is hunted by Gorgona, and plans to fight back for the only thing that truly matters -- her right to life and freedom!

Critique: Created by Spanish author and veteran comic book illustrator Fernando Dagnino, "Smart Girl" is an original and riveting science fiction action adventure presented in a black-and- white graphic novel format. In a coffee-table sized hardcover format (7.76 x 0.6 x 11.77 inches), "Smart Girl" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle/comiXology, $$24.99 and unreservedly recommended for the personal reading lists of science fiction fans and community library Graphic Novel collections.


The Audiobook Shelf

The Last Shadow
Orson Scott Card
Macmillan Audio
www.macmillanaudio.com
9781250818157, $39.99, 11 CDs. 13.5 Hours

https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Other-Tales-Ender-Universe/dp/125081815X

Synopsis: Orson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is currently the only person to win both a Hugo and a Nebula award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both books back-to-back. Card's works were influenced by classic literature, popular fantasy, and science fiction; he often uses tropes from genre fiction.

Orson Scott Card's "The Last Shadow" is the long-awaited conclusion to both the original Ender series and the Ender's Shadow series, as the children of Ender and Bean solve the great problem of the Ender Universe - the deadly virus they call the descolada, which is incurable and will kill all of humanity if it were allowed to escape from Lusitania. One planet. Three sapient species living peacefully together. And one deadly virus that could wipe out every world in the Starways Congress, killing billions. Is the only answer another great Xenocide?

Critique: Complete and unabridged, this CD audio book edition of "The Last Shadow" is dramatically brought to life in the mind's eye of the listener as it is performed by a cast of expert actors that includes Emily Rankin, Gabrielle de Cuir, John Rubinstein, Judy Young, Justine Eyre, Kirby Heyborne, Orson Scott Card, Scott Brick, and Stefan Rudnicki. An absolute 'must' for the legions of Orson Scott Card fans, this action/adventure science fiction tale is a welcome and unreservedly recommended addition to personal and community library audio book collections.


The Library CD Shelf

Acoustic Paris
Putumayo World Music
www.putumayo.com
$14.98 CD / $9.49 MP3

https://www.amazon.com/Acoustic-Paris-Putumayo-Presents/dp/B09JGNYW66

Acoustic Paris is a Putumayo World Music album celebrating French chansons and manouche jazz. The physical CD comes with a booklet filled with information about the presented music artists and songs, and an album download card in addition to the physical CD. Ten songs by ten different French creators are showcased, each evoking the romance, beauty, and atmosphere of modern-day Parisian culture. Acoustic Paris is a treasure for personal and public library international music collections, highly recommended.


The Library DVD Shelf

Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman
Herb Stratford
First Run Features
630 Ninth Avenue, Suite 1213, New York, NY 10036
www.firstrunfeatures.com
DVD, $24.95, 67 minutes, color

http://firstrunfeatures.com/gustavstickleyvod.html

Synopsis: An American furniture manufacturer, design leader, publisher, and a leading voice in the American Arts and Crafts movement. Gustav Stickley's design philosophy was a major influence on American Craftsman architecture, Gustav Stickley (March 9, 1858 - April 21, 1942) was visionary designer whose furniture work included what has become known as the Mission Style. Herb Stratford's new documentary, "Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman", offers an unprecedented look at his life and works as told through interviews, archival materials, and a close examination of his most iconic works.

"Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman" traces the development and evolution of Stickley's unique style as well as the creation of his diverse businesses, including furniture manufacturing, a ground-breaking Manhattan store, the Craftsman Magazine, and Craftsman Farms -- a forerunner of the farm-to-table movement. The documentary visits several key locations in Stickley's lifetime, including his Syracuse home, where he lived and created his first arts and crafts interior; it also details the eventual loss of his businesses, and, after several decades, the rebirth and recognition of the movement he inspired.

Critique: An inherently fascinating and impressively informative documentary, "Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman" is a 'must see' for Gustav Stickley fans, as well as anyone with an interest in the history of American furniture making. "Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library American Arts & Crafts history collections in general, and Gustav Stickley supplemental curriculum lists in particular.


The Art Shelf

Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki, artist
Jessica Niehel, author
Daniel Kotheenschulte, author
Pete Docter, author
DelMonico Books
c/o Distributed Art Publishers
155 Sixth Avenue, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10013-1507
www.artbook.com
9781942884811, $38.99, HC, 288pp

https://www.amazon.com/Hayao-Miyazaki/dp/1942884818

Synopsis: For more than four decades, Japanese artist Hayao Miyazaki has been enchanting audiences of all ages. His animated films, often featuring children navigating unfamiliar and challenging worlds, offer timeless explorations of youth and what it means to grow up. Celebrated and admired around the globe for his artistic vision, craftsmanship and deeply humanistic values, Miyazaki has influenced generations of artists. The universal appeal of his evocative natural settings and complex characters, many among them strong girls and young women, cuts across cultural boundaries.

"Hayao Miyazaki" is published on the occasion of the 2021 inaugural exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, in collaboration with Studio Ghibli in Tokyo. It accompanies the first ever retrospective dedicated to the legendary filmmaker in North America and introduces hundreds of original production materials, including artworks never before seen outside of Studio Ghibli's archives. Concept sketches, character designs, storyboards, layouts, backgrounds and production cels from his early career through all 11 of his feature films, including My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001) and Howl's Moving Castle (2004), offer insight into Miyazaki's creative process and masterful animation techniques.

Critique: An impressively informative and showcasing the artist's work in full color, "Hayao Miyazki" is a exceptionally well organized and presented coffee-table style volume (9.06 x 11.02 inches) that is a critically and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Animated Movies, Movie Direction & Production, Video Direction & Production, and Contemporary Japanese Art History collections in general, and Hayao Miyazki supplemental curriculum studies reading lists in particular.

Picasso: Painting the Blue Period
Pablo Picasso, artist
Kenneth Brummel, editor
Susan Behrends Frank, editor
Marilyn McCully, Eduard Valles, Sandra Webster-Cook, contributors
DelMonico Books
c/o Distributed Art Publishers
www.artbook.com
9781942884927, $50.00, HC, 244pp

https://www.amazon.com/Picasso-Painting-Blue-Period-Pablo/dp/1942884923

Synopsis: Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 - 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. Regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), and Guernica (1937), a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War.

"Picasso: Painting the Blue Period" is a lavishly illustrated volume that reexamines Pablo Picasso's famous Blue Period (1901 - 1904) in paintings, works on paper and sculpture. Relying on new information gleaned from technical studies performed on The Blue Room (Le Tub) (1901), Crouching Beggarwoman (La Misereuse accroupie) (1902) and The Soup (La Soupe) (1903), this multidisciplinary volume combines art history and advanced conservation science in order to show how the young Picasso fashioned a distinct style and a pronounced artistic identity as he adapted the artistic lessons of fin-de-siecle Paris to the social and political climate of an economically struggling Barcelona.

Essays, a chronology and a summary of conservation findings contextualize Picasso's experimental approach to painting during the Blue Period. A major contribution to the burgeoning field of technical art history, "Picasso: Painting the Blue Period" advances new scholarship on one of the most critical episodes in 20th-century modernism.

Critique: Beautifully and profusely illustrated with an impressively informative and exceptionally insightful commentary by a series of expert commentators and editors, "Picasso: Painting the Blue Period" is an extraordinary, inherently fascinating, thoughtful, thought-provoking, and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Fine Art instructional reference collections in general, and Pablo Picasso supplemental curriculum studies lists in particular.

Outdoor School: Contemporary Environmental Art
Amish Morrell, editor
Diane Borsato, editor
Douglas & McIntyre
www.douglas-mcintyre.com
c/o Harbour Publishing
https://harbourpublishing.com
9781771622844, $39.95, HC, 192pp

https://www.amazon.com/Outdoor-School-Diane-Borsato/dp/1771622849

Synopsis: For more than a decade, the Outdoor School project has provided a framework for interdisciplinary artists to come together and share projects that re-imagine ways of relating with the landscape.

The experiential and community-based art projects described in Outdoor School present an alternative to scientific, commercial and colonial conceptions of land and nature in the face of climate change and mass extinction. These art practices include activities like mushroom foraging, water witching, trespassing, pumpkin-boat sailing, cloud identifying, ravine running, honey extracting, spell conjuring, rabbit hunting, coyote walking and more. The project calls attention to creative, counter-cultural works that are focused on education, community and place, and blur the boundaries between art and life, nature and culture.

Comprised of interviews, essays and over 150 photographs, "Outdoor School: Contemporary Environmental Art" is deftly edited by the team of Amish Morrell and Diane Borsato and is an significant contribution to discussions of contemporary art and ecology, foregrounding work that is marginal and ephemeral by nature.

The artists featured and showcased in "Outdoor School: Contemporary Environmental Art: include Alana Bartol, Diane Borsato, Bill Burns, Carolina Caycedo, Sameer Farooq, FASTWURMS, Ayumi Goto, Maggie Groat, Gabrielle Hill, Peter Morin, Public Studio, Helen Reed, Genevieve Robertson, Jamie Ross, Aislinn Thomas, Vibrant Matter, Jay White, Tania Willard, Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson and D'Arcy Wilson.

Critique: Exceptionally well organized and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in presentation, "Outdoor School: Contemporary Environmental Art" is an impressively unique, eloquent, and thought- provoking read -- making it especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Conceptual Art collections and supplemental studies reading lists.

Editorial Note #1: Diane Borsato is an artist, as well as an associate professor of studio art and head of the Experimental Studio area at the University of Guelph. She has exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, the Art Gallery at York University, Art Museum at the University of Toronto, the Walter Philips Gallery at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Vancouver Art Gallery and the National Art Centre as well as in galleries and museums around the world.

Editorial Note #2: Amish Morrell is an educator, curator, editor and writer who teaches at OCAD University in Toronto. From 2008 to 2017 he was Editor and Director of Programs at C Magazine, one of North America's foremost visual arts magazines. He has also curetted numerous exhibitions and developed public projects including Nightwalks with Teenagers with Mammalian Diving Reflex; The Sauna Symposium with Hart House at the University of Toronto; and Reading the Bruce Trail with Public Studio.

Alexander Calder: Minimal Maximal
Staatliche Museen zu Staatliche, editor
Nationalgalerie Berlin, editor
Prestel Publishing
www.prestel.com
9783791379296, $50.00, PB, 200pp

https://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Calder-Staatliche-Museen-zu/dp/3791379291

Synopsis: Alexander Calder (July 22, 1898 - November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, and static "stabiles" monumental public sculptures. He didn't limit his art to sculptures; he also created paintings, jewelry, theatre sets and costumes. (Wikipedia)

Few artists are able to work successfully on both large and small scales, but throughout his career Alexander Calder brilliantly moved from the miniature to the monumental and back again. "Alexander Calder: Minimal / Maximal" focuses on the enormous stabiles he created mostly for public places, as well as his elegant hanging mobiles in sheet metal, miniature standing mobiles, and chess sets, shedding light on the social and performative aspects of his work.

Essays explore how Calder approached the effects of kinetics and space, solidity and transparency, stasis and activity, volume and void. "Alexander Calder: Minimal / Maximal" also looks at how Calder's small-scale sculptures echoed the public spectacle of his larger pieces, creating a "private drama" that encouraged direct participation.

Whatever the size, Calder's works employed movement and interaction in unpredictable ways, and this enlightening study helps readers appreciate the important continuity of his oeuvre.

Critique: This profusely illustrated and bilingual edition (German/English) of "Alexander Calder: Minimal / Maximal" is exceptionally well written, organized and presented. Impressively informative and a pleasure to simply browse throughout, "Alexander Calder: Minimal / Maximal" is a very special and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Art History collections in general, and Alexander Calder supplemental curriculum reading lists in particular.

Fayoum Pottery
R. Neil Hewison
American University in Cairo Press
200 Park Avenue, Suite 1700, New York, NY 10166
www.aucpress.com
9781649031327, $39.95 HC, 192pp

https://www.amazon.com/Fayoum-Pottery-Ceramic-Crafts-Egyptian/dp/1649031327

Synopsis: The Fayoum, a broad, fertile depression in Egypt's Western Desert, is known for its great salt lake, its rich green fields, and its unique pharaonic and Greco-Roman remains. It is also home to three very different centers of pottery production.

The potters of Kom Oshim specialize in decorated garden pots and other utilitarian ware, and guard the special secret of how to make the largest clay vessels in Egypt, up to an extraordinary two and a half meters tall. At al-Nazla, ancient traditions are kept alive, as members of a single extended family continue to use millennia-old techniques passed down from generation to generation, hand-forming among other things their distinctive spherical water jars with amazing dexterity and speed. In the small village of Tunis, the establishment of a pottery school by a Swiss couple in 1990 led to a complete transformation, and the village now hosts more than twenty-five pottery workshops and showrooms, whose products are sold in Cairo, London, and New York.

"Fayoum Pottery: Ceramic Arts and Crafts in an Egyptian Oasis" provides lively insight into a varied and vital craft, author R. Neil Hewison reveals the stories of the three villages and the skilled potters who make their living there, looking at how they learned their trade and how they work, from the preparation of the clay to the formation of the pots on the wheel or by hand, to the decoration, the glazing, and the firing, and finally to the display or distribution and sale of the finished product.

Critique: Providing a beautifully and profusely illustrated exploration of the ceramics of the Fayoum, "Fayoum Pottery: Ceramic Arts and Crafts in an Egyptian Oasis" will inspire and enchant both the casual reader and the experienced pottery maker alike. Informed and informative, inherently fascinating and impressively informative, "Fayoum Pottery: Ceramic Arts and Crafts in an Egyptian Oasis" will have a strong and enduring appeal to lovers of the craft of pottery -- both practitioners, and collectors alike -- making it an ideal and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Ceramic Art, Pottery Making, and Antique/Collectible collections and supplemental curriculum
studies lists.

Editorial Note: Currently residing in Egypt, R. Neil Hewison is the author of The Fayoum: History and Guide (AUC Press, revised edition 2008) and the translator of After the Nobel Prize 1989 - 1994: The Non-Fiction Writing of Naguib Mahfouz Volume IV, as well as fiction by Yusuf Idris, Yusuf Abu Rayya, and Gamal al-Ghitani.


The Philosophy Shelf

Contemporary Italian Women Philosophers
Silvia Benson, editor
Elvira Roncalli, editor
State University of New York Press
State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246-0001
www.sunypress.edu
9781438484914, $95.00, HC, 144pp

https://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Italian-Women-Philosophers-Stretching/dp/1438484917

Synopsis: Collaboratively compiled and co-edited by the team of Silvia Benso (Professor of Philosophy at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the author and editor of several books, including Viva Voce: Conversations with Italian Philosophers, also published by SUNY Press) and Elvira Roncalli (Associate Professor of Philosophy at Carroll College), "Contemporary Italian Women Philosophers: Stretching the Art of Thinking" is a compendium of eleven erudite and insightful essays deftly organized into three major sections: Women, Mothers, Bodies; Subjectivity, Power, and the Political; Responsibility, Emotions, Time; Everyday Life, Action, Transcendence.

Offering a unique portrayal of the theoretical positions of eleven Italian women thinkers who share the practice of philosophy and extend philosophical work and interests beyond the realm of the discipline strictly defined, "Contemporary Italian Women Philosophers: Stretching the Art of Thinking" is enhanced by an informative introduction by the editors, a listing of the contributors and their credentials, and a five page Index.

Critique: Part of the SUNY series in Contemporary Italian Philosophy series, "Contemporary Italian Women Philosophers: Stretching the Art of Thinking" is a unique and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Contemporary Philosophy, Political Philosophy, and Women's Studies collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Contemporary Italian Women Philosophers: Stretching the Art of Thinking" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781438484921, $29.95).


The Interior Design Shelf

Feels Like Home
Marian Parsons
Worthy Publishing
www.worthypublishing.com
www.blackstoneaudio.com
9781546015833, $28.00, HC, 304pp

https://www.amazon.com/Feels-Like-Home-Transforming-Uninspiring/dp/1546015833

Synopsis: Most of us don't live in a dream home that was custom built to suit our tastes. We have to work with a house that brings its own style, quirks, and personality to the table. But imagine walking into this house, but it's perfectly designed and decorated with your style in mind -- a home that fits you like a well-tailored outfit and yet is as comfy as your favorite pair of pajamas. What would that home look like exactly? How would it feel to live in a home styled specifically for you?

The truth is, every home should feel like a custom home and not have to break the bank. In "Feels Like Home: Transforming Your Space from Uninspiring to Uniquely Yours", DIY makeover queen and interior design expert Marian Parsons (a.k.a. Miss Mustard Seed) teaches you what she's learned over the years, sharing budget-friendly practical tips that will inspire you to change your space from "blah" to beautiful, from a builder-grade to character-rich home. Each chapter will guide you through detailed, easy-to-implement tutorials for projects, makeovers, decorating ideas, and tips for handling common challenges.

Special note-taking spaces are also included for recording your own design ideas. Room by room, you will be empowered to transform your house into the home of your dreams!

Critique: Profusely illustrated throughout, exceptionally well organized, thoroughly 'user friendly' in commentary and presentation, "Feels Like Home: Transforming Your Space from Uninspiring to Uniquely Yours" is an ideal and unreservedly recommended addition to community library Interior Design instructional reference collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Feels Like Home: Transforming Your Space from Uninspiring to Uniquely Yours" is readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $13.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9781668600337, $40.00, CD).

Editorial Note: Marian Parsons started Mustard Seed Interiors in 2008, as a way to earn extra money for groceries. What started out as a one-woman decorative painting and mural business evolved into an antiques business that tripped into a blog and blossomed into a successful international brand. Marian wanted to advertise her fledgling business, but also wanted to connect with like-minded readers and other DIY/Home bloggers. The decision was made early on to turn her blog into a valuable resource, filled with tutorials, practical advice, encouragement and a dose of reality. Some of the blog series cover making slipcovers, painting furniture, before & after inspiration, and decorating tips & tricks. While the focus has been on the home, the heart of this blog has always been providing encouragement and inspiration to women in the areas of decorating, homemaking, and creative endeavors.

Never Too Small: Reimagining Small Space Living
Joe Beath, author
Elizabeth Price, author
Colin Chee, creator
Smith Street Books
https://www.smithstreetbooks.com
9781922417213, $40.00, HC, 296pp

https://www.amazon.com/Never-Too-Small-Reimagining-Living/dp/1922417211

Synopsis: What does the future of urban living look like? in the profusely illustrated pages of "Never Too Small: Reimagining Small Space Living" award-winning interior designers Joel Beath and Elizabeth Price explore this question drawing inspiration from a diverse collection of apartment designs, all smaller than 50 square meters/540 square feet. Through the lens of five small-footprint design principles and drawing on architectural images and detailed floor plans, "award-winning designers" examine how architects and designers are reimagining small space living.

Full of inspiration that professionals and non-professional can each apply to their own particular spaces (and originating from an idea for the book by architect Colin Chee), "Never Too Small: Reimagining Small Space Living" offers hope and inspiration for a future of our cities and their citizens in which sustainability and style, comfort and affordability can co-exist.

"Never Too Small: Reimagining Small Space Living" proves living better doesn't have to mean living larger.

Critique: A veritable compendium of superbly photographed and presented ideas, "Never Too Small: Reimagining Small Space Living" is a thoughtful and thought-provoking browse that is both inherently fascinating and of practical inspiration for what can be accomplished in limited living spaces -- especially in urban dwellings and rural small cottage settings. Simply stated, "Never Too Small: Reimagining Small Space Living" is especially recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Interior Design instructional reference collections.


The Fashion Shelf

Men in This Town
Giuseppe Santamaria
Street Smith Books
www.streetsmithbooks.com
9781922417381, $40.00, HC, 280pp

https://www.amazon.com/Men-This-Town-Decade-Street/dp/1922417386

Synopsis: For the last decade, Giuseppe Santamaria has observed and photographically recorded the men of big cities while they cross streets, sit at cafes, and pose, momentarily, on busy sidewalks. Traveling the continents, Giuseppe has documented the evolution of men's identities, communicated through their attitude and style as they move through their different concrete jungles.

With photos shot in Sydney, New York, Tokyo, Milan, London, Melbourne, Toronto, L.A., Madrid, Florence, and Paris, "Men in This Town: A Decade of Men's Street Style" is a unique collection of images that presents a truly global retrospective of men's street fashion. Filled from cover to cover with striking photographs, "Men in This Town: A Decade of Men's Street Style" is a visual record of the men who stick out in a crowd with their particular sense of just who and what they are.

Critique: A unique compendium of full color photographic images of ordinary and extraordinary men's fashions over a ten year span and taken in a variety of countries and continents, "Men in This Town: A Decade of Men's Street Style" is especially and unreservedly recommended for reader's with an interest in photography and fashion. "Men in This Town: A Decade of Men's Street Style" will prove to a an immediate and enduringly popular addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Men's Fashion History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.


The Photography Shelf

How Do I Photograph a Sunset?
Chris Gatcum
Ilex Press
c/o Octopus Books
236 Park Avenue, New York NY 10017
www.octopusbooksusa.com
9781781578216, $19.99, PB, 176pp

https://www.amazon.com/How-Photograph-Sunset-photography-questions/dp/1781578214

Synopsis: In the art and science of photography, as in all other pursuits in life we learn by asking questions -- but what if we don't know what questions we should be asking?

Thanks to the digital revolution, photography has never been so popular, and whether you shoot on a phone or a top-spec DSLR or CSC camera, the urge to improve is relentless. In the illustrated pages of "How Do I Photograph a Sunset?: More than 150 essential photography questions answered", author and professional photographer Chris Gatcum asks the questions that every photographer will have in mind at some point in their image-making journey, and then answers them in a clear, concise, straightforward and inspirational manner.

Laid out in intuitive sections, "How Do I Photograph a Sunset?: More than 150 essential photography questions answered" tackles the questions that are on every photographer's mind, as well as those that they haven't thought of yet. And with a clear progression through each chapter, from the simple to more complex, the book asks (and answers!) questions to satisfy the complete novice as well as the advanced practitioner.

Critique: Exceptionally well written, illustrated, organized and presented, "How Do I Photograph a Sunset?: More than 150 essential photography questions answered" is an ideal DIY tutorial on photography for the novice student of photography and will ably serve as an instructional refresher for even the more experienced photography. While especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Contemporary Photography collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "How Do I Photograph a Sunset?: More than 150 essential photography questions answered" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note: Chris Gatcum has lived and breathed photography for over two decades, working as a professional photographer, journalist, specialist magazine and book editor, as well as a best-selling author. A passionate advocate of experimental digital and traditional photography, he is as comfortable conducting technical camera tests as he is demystifying the art of photography for the rest of us.


The World History Shelf

Europe's Babylon
Michael Pye
Pegasus Books
http://www.pegasusbooks.com
9781643137773, $28.95 hc / $18.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Europes-Babylon-Rise-Antwerps-Golden/dp/1643137778

Synopsis: Before Amsterdam, there was a dazzling North Sea port at the hub of the known world: the city of Antwerp.

In the Age of Exploration, Antwerp was sensational like nineteenth-century Paris or twentieth-century New York. It was somewhere anything could happen or at least be believed: killer bankers, easy kisses, a market in secrets and every kind of heresy. For half the sixteenth century, it was the place for breaking rules - religious, sexual, intellectual.

And it was a place of change - a single man cornered all the money in the city and reinvented ideas of what money meant. Another gave the city a new shape purely out of his own ambition. Jews fleeing the Portuguese Inquisition needed Antwerp for their escape, thanks to the remarkable woman at the head of the grandest banking family in Europe.

Thomas More opened Utopia there, Erasmus puzzled over money and exchanges, William Tyndale sheltered there and smuggled out his Bible in English until he was killed. Pieter Bruegel painted the town as The Tower of Babel.

But when Antwerp rebelled with the Dutch against the Spanish and lost, all that glory was buried and its true history rewritten. The city that unsettled so many now became conformist. Mutinous troops burned the city records, trying to erase its true history.

In Europe's Babylon, Michael Pye sets out to rediscover the city that was lost and bring its wilder days to life using every kind of clue: novels, paintings, songs, schoolbooks, letters and the archives of Venice, London and the Medici. He builds a picture of a city haunted by fire, plague, and violence, but one that was learning how to be a power in its own right as it emerged from feudalism.

An astounding and original narrative that illuminates this glamorous and bloody era of history and reveals how this fascinating city played its role in making the world modern.

Critique: Europe's Babylon: The Rise and Fall of Antwerp's Golden Age is a fascinating history and scrutiny of 16th-century Antwerp, a port town in Belgium that grew into a world-spanning trade hub. Antwerp's downfall came when the city sided with the Dutch rebellion against the Spanish, and lost. Mutinous troops burned the city's records, and much of its history was lost. Europe's Babylon seeks to reconstruct the past from a wide variety of records - novels, paintings, songs, schoolbooks, letters, archives, and much more. Europe's Babylon offers a window through time into a post-feudal city that grew into astonishing power and influence, despite depredations of fire, plague, and violence. Europe's Babylon is an welcome contribution to public and college library World History collections, highly recommended. It should be noted for personal reading lists that Europe's Babylon is also available in a Kindle edition ($18.99).

Editorial Note: Michael Pye is the author of The Drowning Room, The Pieces from Berlin, and The Edge of the World, all three of which were New York Times Notable Books of the Year.

History of the Caucasus
Christoph Baumer
I. B. Tauris Publishers
www.ibtauris.com
c/o Bloomsbury Press
https://www.bloomsbury.com
9781788310079, $38.42, HC, 392pp

https://www.amazon.com/History-Caucasus-At-Crossroads-Empires/dp/1788310071

Synopsis: A landscape of high mountains and narrow valleys stretching from the Black to the Caspian Seas, the Caucasus region has been home to human populations for nearly 2 million years. "History of the Caucasus: At the Crossroads of Empires" is the first of a richly illustrated 2-volume series in which historian and explorer Christoph Baumer tells the story of the region's history through to the present day. It is a story of encounters between many different peoples, from Scythians, Turkic and Mongol peoples of the East to Greeks and Romans from the West, from Indo-European tribes from the West as well as the East, and to Arabs and Iranians from the South. It is a story of rival claims by Empires and nations and of how the region has become home to more than 50 languages that can be heard within its borders to this very day.

This first volume charts the period from the emergence of the earliest human populations in the region - the first known human populations outside Africa - to the Seljuk conquests of 1050CE. Along the way the book charts the development of Neolithic, Iron and Bronze Age cultures, the first recognizable Caucasian state and the arrival of a succession of the great transnational Empires, from the Greeks, the Romans and the Armenian to competing Christian and Muslim conquerors. "The History of the Caucasus: Volume 1" also includes more than 200 full color images and maps bringing the changing cultures of these lands vividly to life.

Critique: Impressively informative, profusely illustrated, exceptionally well organized and presented, "History of the Caucasus: At the Crossroads of Empires" by historian Christoph Baumer is an extraordinary work of regional history that will have enormous appeal for the non- specialist general reader and the academician alike -- making this an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, community, college, and university library Asian history collections in general, and supplemental curriculum studies reading lists in particular.

Editorial Note: Christoph Baumer is a leading explorer and historian of Central Asia. He is President of the Society for the Exploration of EurAsia and is a member of the Explorers' Club, New York, and of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, London.

Nero: The Man Behind The Myth
Thorsten Opper
The British Museum
c/o Distributed Art Publishers
www.artbook.com
9780714122908, $65.00, HC, 304pp

https://www.amazon.com/Nero-Behind-Myth-Thorsten-Opper/dp/0714122904

Synopsis: One of the best known and simultaneously most notorious figures from Roman history, Nero (r. AD 54 - 68) is usually characterised as a tyrannical and ineffectual emperor, a ruler who proverbially 'fiddled while Rome burnt'. However, as new research demonstrates, this reputation is crudely reductive and was carefully crafted in antiquity by hostile elite authors, who envisioned a different form of rule more mindful of the demands of their own social and political class.

"Nero: The Man Behind The Myth" by Thorsten Opper and published by The British Museum redresses the balance and provides a more nuanced interpretation of Nero's reign and Roman society of the time, reflecting on the traditional perceptions of his rule and revealing the substantial external and internal challenges with which the sixteen-year-old heir to the Roman empire had to contend.

Nero's rule fell in an extended period of transition and profound social and economic change. The empire had grown rapidly during previous centuries, and an astonishing era of peace and prosperity followed the introduction of one-man rule after decades of bloody civil war under Nero's great-great-grandfather Augustus. However, political institutions and elite mindsets were slow to adjust to the resulting rise of former outsiders, people from the provinces and freed slaves.

"Nero: The Man Behind The Myth" considers in detail the resulting tensions and the challenging role of Nero's family within them. Powerful individuals, among them many women, including Nero's mother Agrippina, and his tutor and advisor Seneca, come to life against the backdrop of these times, when different court factions thought to manipulate the young ruler. At the same time, intriguing evidence - doodles and graffiti - from Rome, Pompeii and other Vesuvian cities gives voice to often very different attitudes of common people, completely ignored by the ancient literary sources.

In addition to these internal challenges, Nero inherited a great conflict with the rival power of the Parthians and unrest in unsettled newly conquered territories, including Britain. The book examines his military and diplomatic response and the powerful visual language - often disregarded - that presented him as a successful young military leader throughout the empire. Administrative and tax reforms culminated in 'populist' policies that also saw him embrace enthusiastically the possibilities offered through public entertainments (the circus, arena and theater) to communicate directly with his subjects and project a more direct, charismatic form of rule. Yet his grand building projects and the beautification of his capital were offset by severe natural disasters and a devastating fire of Rome.

Popular with the common people to the very end, Nero could not reconcile the internal contradictions of the principate, the political system introduced by Augustus. Hostile segments of the elite were behind military rebellions in AD 68 that quickly drove Nero from power. His enforced suicide brought to an end the rule of Rome's first imperial dynasty, the Julio-Claudians. The subsequent vilification of his memory and the removal and desecration of his image are an enduring, but misleading, legacy that leave a fascinating reign to be explored anew.

Critique: Beautifully and profusely illustrated throughout, this new biographical history of Nero is inherently fascinating, impressively informative, and a meticulous work of detailed and exhaustive research. A work of impeccable scholarship that will appel to academia and non- specialist general readers alike, this coffee-table style edition (9.84 x 11.02 inches) of "Nero: The Man Behind The Myth" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Roman History collections in general, and Emperor Nero supplemental curriculum studies reading lists in particular. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Nero: The Man Behind The Myth" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9780714122915, $40.00).

Editorial Note: Thorsten Opper is a curator of Greek and Roman Sculpture at the British Museum, specializing in ancient portraiture, the Greek world in the Roman period, and the collecting and restoration of ancient sculpture in the eighteenth century. Thorsten joined the British Museum in 2001 from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. His previous publications include Hadrian: Empire and Conflict (London, British Museum Press, 2008).


The Literary Studies Shelf

Pioneer Girl: The Revised Texts
Laura Ingalls Wilder, author
Nancy Tystad Koupal, editor
South Dakota Historical Society Press
900 Governors Drive, Pierre, SC 57501-2217
https://www.sdhspress.com
9781941813096, $49.95, HC, 484pp

https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-Girl-Revised-Texts-Project/dp/1941813097

Synopsis: For generations, the works of Laura Ingalls Wilder have defined the American frontier and the pioneer experience for the public at large. Edited by Nancy Tystad Koupal, "Pioneer Girl: The Revised Texts presents three typescripts of Wilder's original Pioneer Girl manuscript in an examination of the process through which she and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, transformed her autobiography into the much-loved Little House series. As the women polished the narrative from draft to draft, a picture emerges of the working relationship between the women, of the lives they lived, and of the literary works they created.

Editor Nancy Koupal in collaboration with the other editors of the Pioneer Girl Project provides a meticulous study of the Wilder/Lane partnership as Wilder's autobiography undergoes revision, and the women redevelop and expand portions of it into Wilder's successful children's and young adult novels and into Lane's bestselling adult novels in the 1930s. The three revised texts of Pioneer Girl, set side by side, showcase the intertwined processes of writing and editing and the contributions of writer and editor.

In background essays and annotations, Koupal and her team of editors provide historical context and explore the ways in which Wilder or Lane changed and reused the material. Wilder and Lane's partnership has been the subject of longstanding speculation, but "Pioneer Girl: The Revised Texts" is the first work to explore the women's relationship by examining the evolution of surviving manuscripts.

Showcasing differences in the texts and offering numerous additional documents and handwritten emendations, the editors create a rich resource for scholars to use in assessing the editorial and writing principles, choices, and reasoning that Lane employed to shape the manuscripts for publication.

Readers can follow along as Wilder grows into a novelist that "no depression could stop." The New York Times best seller, Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography (2014), edited by Pamela Smith Hill, gave the general reader easy access to Wilder's original account for the first time, but that book only scratched the surface of available textual and archival materials.

Ultimately, the editors of "Pioneer Girl: The Revised Texts" employ the rich resource of letters between Wilder and her publisher and between Wilder and Lane, along with rough drafts and false starts of the Little House books, to inform scholars and readers about the original manuscript's metamorphosis into novels and about the intriguing editorial relationship between Wilder and Lane.

"Pioneer Girl: The Revised Texts" deepens our understanding of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the process through which she would ultimately become an icon of young adult literature.

Critique: An epic work of impressive and meticulously diligent scholarship, "Pioneer Girl: The Revised Texts" is an extraordinarily informative and insightful literary study. Exceptionally well organized and presented, and with its immense appeal for the legions of Laura Ingalls Wilder fans, "Pioneer Girl: The Revised Texts" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, community, college, and university library 20th Century American Literature Studies collections in general, and Laura Ingalls Wilder supplemental curriculum studies reading lists in particular.


James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Diane C. Donovan, Editor
Midwest Book Review
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Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
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http://www.midwestbookreview.com


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